Laboratories and Project Sites

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CNL's Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) are located in the Province of Ontario, 190 km northwest of Canada's national capital, Ottawa. The CNL site comprises 3,700 hectares (9,100 acres) along the Ottawa River. The site contains several licence-listed nuclear facilities, including the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor and many other unique facilities and laboratories.

The site has unique capabilities in expertise and specialized facilities that support innovation in safety, security, health, environmental and clean energy technologies.

CNL's Whiteshell Laboratories (WL), located 100 km northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba, operated from 1961 to 1997. This is where CNL pioneered the development of dry storage containment facilities for used nuclear fuel, a – technology that is now in use throughout the world. The site is now being decommissioned.

The National Programs was established in 1982 to carry out the responsibilities of the federal government for the management of historic low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) in Canada.

The Port Hope Area Initiative (PHAI) represents the Government of Canada’s commitment to the cleanup and local, long-term, safe management of historic low-level radioactive waste in two Ontario municipalities. Launched in 2001, the PHAI has two projects: the Port Hope Project in the Municipality of Port Hope and the Port Granby Project in the Municipality of Clarington.

In addition to those sites listed above, CNL maintains a small complement of staff in a number of locations across the country addressing commercial projects, leading academic work, addressing environmental concerns or decommissioning redundant or prototype facilities.